[293] Ed. 1631 “cleane fac’t.”
[294] An old form of “apostate.”
[295] I suppose it was left to the actor to explain shortly the history of Massino’s relations with Isabella.
[296] Old eds. “dead.”
[297] Old eds. “Rogero.”
ACT V.
SCENE I.
Pavia.—The place of execution.
Enter[298] Medina, followed by soldiers with the dead body of Count Massino on a bier; Don Sago guarded, Executioner. A scaffold laid out.
Med. Don Sago, quakest thou not to behold this spectacle—
This innocent sacrifice, murder’d nobleness—
When blood, the Maker ever promiseth,
Shall though with slow yet with sure vengeance rest?
’Tis a guerdon earn’d, and must be paid;
As sure revenge, as it is sure a deed;
I ne’er knew murder yet, but it did bleed.
Canst thou, after so many fearful conflicts
Between this object and thy guilty conscience,
Now thou art freed from out the serpent’s jaws, 10
That vild adulteress, whose sorceries
Doth draw chaste men into incontinence—
Whose tongue flows over with harmful eloquence—